NOIDA: A moderate gathering of
protesting farmers
and a stringent
police response
to stop them from reaching Delhi brought
traffic
to a crawl or a standstill for much of Thursday on
Noida Expressway
and its connecting roads, with a combination of heavy barricading, diversions, road closures, border checks and a sit-in demonstration cascading to create a day of commuting nightmare for thousands of people.
At the heart of the gridlock was a 4km stretch from Mahamaya flyover to Noida Gate, affecting traffic for kilometres on both sides of the border. "It felt like I was marooned in a sea of cars," said Remya Singh, who was on her way to Delhi to pick up her son in the afternoon and was stuck for more than two hours. In the afternoon and evening, the drive between Noida and Delhi took 3-4 hours.
The effects of the Noida protest were also felt in central Delhi - which saw jams amid heavy police deployment after inputs from Delhi Police's special branch about "splinter groups of 5-10 farmers" trying to reach Parliament - and in Ghaziabad, where morning rush-hour traffic was thrown out of gear on Delhi-Meerut Expressway.
Repeat of Noida chaos unlikely today
Police checks at the UP Gate border led to a tailback of more than 6km to Sector 62 in Noida.
Friday is not likely to see a repeat. After talks with Noida police commissioner Laxmi Singh that stretched into the evening, leaders of the protesting group announced they would return to their demonstration sites - outside the Greater Noida Authority office and the NTPC power plant in Noida. They warned they would return if govt ignores them.
The main protesting group of farmers, who had announced a march to Parliament to press for their demands of higher compensation for acquired land and bigger abadi pots, gathered at Mahamaya flyover. Around 1pm, a group of around 1,000 began their march towards Noida Gate. They were stopped by police near the bird feeding point of Dalit Prerna Sthal.
Since morning, police had put up barricades and parked trucks and cranes on the road to stop the farmers, keeping just one of the four lanes open for traffic to pass. But once the march began, the expressway was fully shut, as were all access points to the expressway between Mahamaya and Prerna Sthal.
This choked traffic from Kalindi Kunj and Sector 37 on the Noida-Delhi side and cars headed to the expressway from sectors 15, 16 and 18 on the Delhi-Noida side. Several commuters complained that Noida police did not post personnel to guide traffic through diversions. Some had heated arguments with cops when they finally spotted one. Afternoon traffic in the Sector 18 area was chaotic as motorists drove on the wrong side of the Film City flyover to evade the jam and look for alternative routes.
DCP Anil Kumar Yadav said traffic police had issued an advisory about traffic restrictions a day ago.
In Ghaziabad, additional DCP Veerendra Kumar said that more than 50 cops were deployed on the Delhi-Meerut Expressway and UP Gate to manage traffic. Normalcy at the Ghaziabad border was restored by 2pm. Traffic on the DND Flyway was relatively smooth.
Ram Bhajan Singh (64), a farmer from Meerut, said he came to Noida on Thursday to support the demands. "Yes, traffic got affected in Noida, but farmers have been forced to take this step," he said.
Noida joint commissioner (law and order) Shiv Hari Meena said nearly 300 police personnel, commandos and the Rapid Action Force were deployed at the protest site. "The farmers gathered at Dalit Prerna Sthal but were not allowed to march towards Delhi. It ended peacefully. In the day, there were traffic issues as some routes were shut and traffic had to be diverted, but police personnel managed to clear up the roads by evening," he said.
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